Are You In The Race?

My watch runs fast. In spite of the jeweler telling me that it runs perfectly, I know that its hands spin around the dial when I'm not looking.

Time seemed to pass very slowly when I was a child. The week before we went to the circus seemed at least a month long.

When my grandmother complained about time going too fast, I thought she was a bit daft. I thought she was the best grandmother in the world, but a bit daft. I don't anymore.

Now I know exactly how Grandmother felt. Time passes so quickly I feel like I'm in a race. I am in a race. It's the human race.

Our lives are filled with modern conveniences that give us more time - microwaves, computers and cell phones that do everything except give you an excuse for not calling. Unfortunately, the more time we have, the more time we race around.

Today if you're not multi-tasking, you're procrastinating. My version of multi-tasking is keeping work by the phone for all those times I'm put on hold. When you're asked if you mind holding, you're never given time to say, "Yes, I do mind". I take work to doctor appointments because waiting rooms are very appropriately named.

However, there are time traps that you can fall into because they're deceptively named. How often have you been in a supermarket express line and the customer in front of you can't count or can't read the ten-item-limit sign. The drive-through window at our Daddy Warbucks Coffee Shop is more like a parking lot.

In an attempt to preserve my sanity, as well as lower my blood pressure, I try to use the time I'm stopped at red lights to count my blessings. When I'm running late, I try to tell myself that everything happens for a reason - I just don't have time to figure out what the reason is. No matter how many Christmas gifts I've been able to buy during the year, I always feel post-Thanksgiving panic about those I still need to buy.

We can't change the date for Christmas, but maybe Thanksgiving should be postponed until December twenty-sixth. No, that won't work. That's the day people are racing around to return the gifts that you raced around to buy. This year I know what I'm going to ask Santa for. I'm going to ask Santa for more time.